Best Face Forward
by Velacroix
Summary: The CIA gets involved in the lab and a new drink causes everyone to act weirder than usual. Contains GSR and WCR. This is just the first chapter, so it isn't that interesting, but I'll add more very soon. This is my first story, so please R&R!
1. Craterface

DISCLAIMER: I do not own CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, or any of its characters. I just own this story.

Chapter 1: Craterface

7:17 P.M.

Las Vegas Crime Lab

Las Vegas, Nevada

The dayshift was almost over. The lab was almost completely empty, except for a few people catching up on some paperwork. Conrad Ecklie had just finished packing up his briefcase and was ready to go home for the night and the weekend. Before packing up his laptop computer, he decided to check his email (work account, of course).

He looked at his messages. There was only one new one. The name on the email address was not one he recognized. But the suffix was identical to those of all the employees in the lab, so it must be from one of them. It said:

**TO:** CEcklie

**FROM:** craterface

**SUBJECT:** Internal Affair Case File

Hello! I don't intend to worry you, but I thought you might find these photographs interesting. It may change your mind about two certain people whom you know fairly well. And remember: secrets are usually buried very deep in the ground, but always seem to find a way to reach the surface…

There was a picture link at the bottom of the email. Ecklie read the email message rather slowly, and then sat back to think for a moment. Most other people would simply treat something like this as junk mail, but Conrad Ecklie was always a sucker for gossip. Therefore, he double-clicked the link.

As the files opened, a smirk spread across his face. The file contained photographs of Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle. The photos weren't dirty or anything; they were just normal photos of Grissom and Sara. But they were taken in a weird way. For example, a few of the photos were of Grissom and Sara having a close "chat" at Sara's house. The other pics were taken in the lab. They all looked as if they had been shot from a hidden camera.

Ecklie didn't notice that the photos seemed a bit odd, or that the address the email was sent from was the address of a lab employee who used a codename instead of their real name to remain anonymous. No, Ecklie wasn't thinking about any of that. He was just happy to have his hands on some new, juicy, rumors. So, realizing that there was no reason for him to remain at work, he inhaled deeply, shut down his computer, picked up his briefcase, locked the door to his office, and then walked toward the glass double doors of the lab.

Just as he was leaving through the double doors of the laboratory, he came face-to-face with Sara Sidle, who was coming in to work early, as usual. She had planned to walk right by him, but he made a point of coming up in her face.

"Hello, Miss Sidle." Ecklie said, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Hi, Ecklie." Sara said, annoyed, trying to get passed him.

"How are you, Sara?"

"I'm fine."

At this point, she had given up on trying to walk past him. He put his hand on the wall and leaned forward on her in a somewhat threatening way.

"Are you really?" Ecklie said, giving her a suspicious look.

"Yes." Sara replied, giving him a polite smile that covered up her annoyed gaze. She pushed past him and headed toward her office. Ecklie remained behind her. She had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

"How's Grissom? Or rather, how are you and Grissom? What's up with you two, anyway?"

Sara didn't really know why, but this question made her spin around and look Ecklie in the eye. Her stomach turned over as she looked at his satisfied grin.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, trying to keep her cool.

Ecklie laughed.

"I don't know how I could've missed it. All this time I was worried about Grissom and Sofia, but I never realized that leaving Grissom with you would become so problematic."

"Problematic?"

"Yes, problematic. I've always seen Grissom as a bit of an oddity, but I never once viewed him as a crooked old man."

Sara's face instantly became a deep crimson. Her heart started beating a mile a minute. She opened her mouth to speak but at that very moment, Grissom entered the lab. Sara let out a startled scream, and looked back and forth between Ecklie and Grissom.

"Sara, are you all right!" Grissom asked, running toward her and looking at her through worried eyes.

"Yeah, I'm…I'm fine." She replied, breathing deeply. She kept her eyes on Ecklie who was still standing there. Grissom turned his head to look at Ecklie, who stared back.

"Can we help you, Conrad?" said Grissom.

"Actually, I don't think you can." He replied.

"Good evening, Sara. Good evening, Grissom."

Ecklie smiled a sneaky little smile, glanced from Sara to Grissom, then straightened himself out and left. Grissom turned to Sara and gave her a puzzled look.

"What's up with him?" Grissom asked.

"It's Ecklie." Sara replied, shrugging.

"Right."

Sara smiled. There was a brief awkward silence, and then she walked away toward her office.

MEANWHILE…

7:32 P.M.

Catherine Willows unlocked the door to her office, turned on the light, and walked inside. She was near exhausted and was only taking a short break from working. Swing shift starts at 4:00 P.M., and she had already wrapped up one case: a grocery store robbery(a complete waste of time, as no one was hurt and the crooks were just twelve-year-olds stealing Mars bars), and was in the middle of another. She had just finished attending the autopsy of a Jane Doe who was found in the desert. Anyway, Catherine sat down at her desk and turned on her computer. She clicked on the icon for her email inbox. She had only one new email and it was from a user she didn't recognize. But it was from someone in the lab, so she opened it anyway. It said:

**TO:** CWillows

**FROM:** craterface

**SUBJECT:** Internal Affair Case File

Hello! I don't intend to worry you, but I thought you might find these photographs interesting. It may change your mind about two certain people whom you know fairly well. And remember: secrets are usually buried very deep in the ground, but always seem to find a way to reach the surface…

This email was completely identical to the one Ecklie had received, link and all. Catherine put a befuddled look on her face and thought for a moment before opening the files. But she clicked on the link anyway. She stared at the photos for a minute or two, thinking why they were sent to her. The photos weren't obscene or abnormal or anything like that. They were just photos. Catherine continued to stare at the computer screen for a few more moments, until someone knocked on her door, forcing her to return to earth. It was Nick Stokes.

"Hey Cath, I got a question for you." Nick said. "Did you recently receive an unknown email in your inbox?"

"Why?" Catherine asked. "From who?"

"I don't know. The name was Craterface and the email was sent from a computer in this building."

"Let me guess, there were pictures attached to the email."

"So you got it too!" Nick asked.

"Yeah" Catherine replied. "I honestly don't see what the big deal is; it's probably just a prank or something."

"Well, I don't know, Cath. I mean a user with a codename sending emails from this building could mean we have a leak in our security. We might even have a clever hacker, but I doubt that because if it were true, then a virus would've most likely already traveled through and wrecked the system."

Catherine began to look uneasy.

"Yeah, but why the email?" She asked. "Why the photos?"

"I don't know" Nick replied. "What I do know is that…"

"Catherine!"

Warrick Brown had just entered Catherine's office, giving her the look he gave people when he just arrived at a break in a case.

"Yeah." Catherine said, stretching her face to relieve the shock of a possible computer hacker and to wake her up.

"I found out who our Jane Doe is. Name is Laura Jenson, age eight, address is 1560 Williams Street. Lived with her grandmother, name Leslie Jenson, retired, who reported Laura missing six weeks ago. Most likely a kidnapping."

There was a brief silence in the room until Catherine replied to Warrick's information with no more than a sarcastic "Great."

"That was all I could find for now." Warrick continued, "But I'll probably find out more after we interview the grandmother."

He started to exit Catherine's office, expecting her to follow him. She didn't.

"Cath, you comin'?" He asked.

"Uh, maybe I'll meet you there" She replied, distracted.

"I can't cover your ass again." Warrick said, a hint of anger in his voice. "I had to do that last week when you couldn't find a sitter for Lindsay. And I don't think Nick wants to cover for you, either."

"Hey, dude, leave me out of this." Nick said, throwing up his hands. "And Cath's just in a weird mood because of the emails."

"Emails?" Warrick asked, looking confused.

"You haven't checked your email, have you?" Catherine asked, a small smile on her face.

Warrick shook his head.

"Take a look at mine." Catherine said, pointing her head toward her computer screen.

Warrick took a look at the photos and said:

"I gotta check up on where this email was sent from." Warrick quickly left the room to do that.

8:04 P.M.

Warrick reentered Catherine's office. She was still there, but Nick had gone with Brass to interview Leslie Jenson. She glanced up at Warrick, who had a puzzled look on his face.

"Did you find out where that email was sent?" She asked.

"Yeah." Warrick replied. "I know this sounds weird, but it came from a computer located in the fourth floor women's bathroom.

"What!" Catherine said, surprised and confused. "How the hell did that happen?"

"I don't know yet."

"What do you mean, 'you don't know yet'?"

"Well, we have to investigate. I know better than to go into a possible crime scene by myself and without a kit. There could be a bomb in there, for all we know."

Catherine sighed.

"I'll get the bomb squad down here A.S.A.P." She said.

8: 21 P.M.

A bomb squad was assembled outside the fourth floor women's bathroom. The fourth floor had been temporarily evacuated, just in case. Usually, the entire building would've been evacuated, but in this case, there was no sign of an actual bomb, so that wasn't done. The man in charge of the bomb squad entered the bathroom with his equipment. He slowly looked in and under the sinks, then started opening each bathroom stall door. The stall farthest to the left had an "out of order" sign on it. The door slowly opened and inside was a large laptop computer connected to a socket on the wall. That was the only odd thing found in the bathroom; there wasn't a bomb in sight.

8:59 P.M.

Catherine and Warrick were assembled in front of the laptop in the fourth floor women's bathroom.

"I'm gonna search the computer for files to give us a clue at least to who's behind these strange emails." Warrick stated, determined.

His eyes were glued to the screen as he searched through ton of case files and emails, not knowing exactly what to look for. This went on for close to an hour, by which time Catherine had completely lost interested and reverted back to her original prank theory. She started to doze off when…

"Cath, you gotta look at this!" Warrick said suddenly.

Catherine opened her eyes and glanced at the computer screen.

"Oh my God…" She said, awing the computer. "Does this mean what I think it means?"

"Yeah." Warrick replied. "It means that whoever was using this computer works for the CIA."


	2. Each Day Passes Like A Year

Chapter 2: Each Day Passes Like A Year

9:09 P.M.

3737 Rosedale Road

Las Vegas, Nevada

Gil Grissom, Sara Sidle, Greg Sanders, David Phillips, and Detective Vartann were just arriving at a crime scene on Rosedale Road, one of the nicest residential streets in Vegas. This was a place where the wealthy and privileged live in enormous houses where enormous parties were held every night. There must have been over a hundred people at this particular party, and they were all standing behind yellow tape looking annoyed.

"Sir." A young woman said, touching Grissom's shoulder and causing him to turn around. "Is this really necessary?" she asked, with an inquisitive smile on her face.

"It most certainly is." Grissom answered politely. "We have to find out why a person who arrived here alive is now dead." He nodded and walked toward the door, Sara, Greg, and Vartann trailing behind.

"Whoa, we got a lot of suspects today." Greg said.

"Yup." Sara responded.

"A lot of hotties too." Greg added, smiling.

Sara rolled her eyes and followed Grissom into the house. Grissom cased the joint on his way to the scene, which in this case was the bathroom. Detective Vartann stayed outside to interview everyone who was at the party.

The bathroom in this house was very large. The deceased, a young woman, was on the floor next to the toilet. Her eyes were closed, and there was no apparent cause of death. She was pretty, with red hair and pale skin, very rare for Las Vegas. As Sara took photos of the crime scene, she wondered how the woman died.

"Looks like a drug overdose or something." Greg said,

"Never assume, Greg." Grissom said sternly.

"I'm trying."

David then entered the room to take the dead woman's body temperature.

"Grissom!" he said, a bit startled.

"What is it David?"

"This woman's still warm. She's been dead less than an hour."

Grissom nodded and said "Yeah, we know."

"Also, this bump on her head was there before she died." David added.

Grissom and Sara examined the body. Grissom opened the eyes and noticed that even though this woman had not been dead for long, her eyes were completely glazed over and there was black fluid in the inside of her mouth. Sara saw nothing else on the deceased, except for the bump on her head which matched some paint chippings and blood on the toilet seat.

"So…" Sara said, "She walks into the bathroom drugged, and falls down onto the floor, causing her to hit her head on the toilet seat. Or, she's drugged, walks into the bathroom, and, because she's unconscious, someone bangs her head against the toilet seat, until she's dead"

"Yeah, but why the toilet seat, why not the wall?" Greg asked.

"Make it look like a suicide."

David then took the body back to the lab so Dr. Robbins could perform an autopsy. Grissom and Greg moved on to other rooms in the house and Sara went out into the backyard to process the perimeter.

10: 45 P.M.

Nick and Brass had had just arrived at the lab after two hours at Laura Jenson's house at 1560 Williams Street. Brass had interviewed her grandmother, Leslie Jenson about her granddaughter, and Nick processed the house. Nick was now looking at Laura's mother as a possible suspect. The mother was a drug addict who knew where Laura went to school, which is where she disappeared from. Unfortunately, cases like this were not at all uncommon, which is why Nick was falling asleep and waiting for midnight to come, when he would leave the lab and go home. He was still vaguely wondering about the emails, but figured that if nothing had happened yet, nothing would.

11:00 P.M.

Catherine and Warrick had just finished processing the laptop computer in the fourth floor women's restroom. They were now walking down the hall, heading for the kitchen.

"What do think the CIA's doing with the lab?" Warrick asked.

"I don't know." said Catherine. "You never know what the feds are up to."

"Yeah, you're right, but I don't get what that email and those photos have to do with anything. I mean, why hell are there hidden cameras surveying Sara and Grissom? It just doesn't add up"

"I don't know." Catherine said as they entered the kitchen. "But something's going on. I think we should contact the CIA and ask them about it. Now, I'm not expecting answers, but it should at least tell us if they're hiding something or not."

"I couldn't agree with you more."

There was a brief silence, and then Catherine said "I could really use a cup of coffee right now."

"You know, I've been wanting to try one of these new energy drinks." Warrick said, pointing to a brand-new vending machine standing in the corner of the room. "What about you?"

"Yeah, alright, what the hell."

They both put a dollar in the vending machine and out came an energy drink. Warrick chose "red hot ruby raspberry" while Catherine decided to get "pristine peppermint".

"Cheers!" Warrick said, and he and Catherine knocked their cans of energy drink together, opened them, and did a taste test.

Warrick took a big gulp out of his and made a little face.

"Man that tastes weird!"

Catherine glanced at him; she hadn't taken a sip of hers yet.

"Weird, but good!" He said, smiling and reassuring her by taking another gulp.

"Well, here goes!" Catherine took a few sips of her drink and seemed a bit surprised by the flavor. "Whoa, that's, uh, a far cry from coffee."

"Oh yeah."

Both Warrick and Catherine would continue to converse until their shift was over. Little did they know that there was something about those energy drinks that would be even stranger than their taste.

11:24 P.M.

Sara parked her car in front of the lab. She had just finished processing the scene on Rosedale Road and was about to see Doc Robbins to find out that woman's cause of death. She got out of her car, locked the door, and headed toward the entrance of the lab. She walked in and headed toward the morgue room. Greg and Grissom were already there.

"Hello Sara." said Dr. Robbins.

"Hey." Sara replied.

"So, now that we're all here, how did Ms. Hathaway die?" Greg asked.

"Gil's theory was correct." The doc said. "Ms. Hathaway committed suicide. She overdosed on her prescribed meds and hit her head on the toilet bowl when she collapsed. The black fluid in her throat and stomach was a combination of the medication she took, which was an extremely lethal amount. The pills were fast-acting; she knew exactly what she was doing. There were no defensive wounds anywhere on her body, and no sign of a struggle anywhere in the house."

"Wow." Sara said. "Somebody goes to a party to kill themselves. What's next?"

Sara took a deep breath and stepped out of the room. Her heart felt heavy. She knew how Ms. Hathaway felt. She had lost count of how many times she felt like ending it all. She loved Las Vegas, but it was a world of ups and downs to her. Sometimes she would feel like she was on top of the world and other times she felt like taking her gun and putting it right to her head. Today was one of those days. She went into the bathroom and locked herself in a stall. Silent tears started to fall down her cheeks. She then heard the bathroom door open. She picked up her legs so no one would see her in there. Sara wasn't in the mood for people to ask her what was wrong.

The bathroom door swung closed, and Catherine stepped into the bathroom. She let out a gigantic burp which was followed by an equally gigantic hyper laugh. Sara looked up, puzzled by Catherine's behavior. Catherine wasn't sounding like her usual hard-ass self. She sounded…high. She continued to act like this, moving in a zigzag motion and laughing maniacally. This went on for about ten minutes until Catherine banged into the bathroom door and exited.

Sara came out of her stall and rinsed her face in cold water. She was really worn out. She'd been plagued by insomnia since she was a child, but lately it had been especially severe. She'd go entire weeks without getting more than ten hours of sleep. Whenever possible, she'd drown herself in her work. But tonight was different. Tonight she could barely move, let alone work. Her eyes ached and her face felt like putty. She had to go home now. She'd make up the hours. Of course, she had already done so much overtime that this was unnecessary, but she felt guilty about leaving work four hours early. But it had to be done.

Sara went to Grissom's office after making doubly sure she looked normal. She knocked on the door.

"Come in." Grissom said, in his usual stern-but-friendly way.

"Hey." Sara said, smiling and sitting down. "Um, it's kind of a slow night, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Grissom replied. "This only happens once in a blue moon."

Sara smiled again and said, "Uh, I was wondering, um, would it be okay if I, uh, left work early tonight? I have a lot of things to take care of, and it would only be tonight."

"You mean today."

"What?"

Grissom pointed to the clocked behind him and said, "It's midnight."

"Oh. Right. Um, would that be okay?"

"When are you planning to leave?"

"Um, now."

Grissom thought for a moment and then said, "Well, seeing as you've never left work early before and you almost always work overtime, I think it would be alright."

Sara smiled a third time, got up, and said "Thanks, I…I really appreciate this."

She started to walk away and then Grissom spoke again.

"Sara?" He said.

She turned her head.

"Yeah?"

"Hang in there."


End file.
